<p>Are there any Smith students out there who have successfully taken film production related courses at Hampshire?</p>
<p>It looks like Smith doesn't have much in this area, whereas Hampshire does, so I was wondering how hard it was for Smith students to get into these courses at Hampshire.</p>
<p>I don't know anyone, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. I do know that there is an independent film production company in downtown Northampton that does internships with Smith students. </p>
<p>But yes, for film studies, you'll need to plan on doing a lot five college moving around. If that's what you're interested in majoring in, you should know that it's a five-college major, not just a Smith major, so it involves some travelling.</p>
<p>I saw on the 5 College web site that there is a film major, but the description emphasized that the focus is on film studies rather than film production.</p>
<p>What I am trying to get a handle on is whether it is possible to get sufficient coursework in production. I found a trailer for one film done by Hampshire students and it looks very professional.</p>
<p>Do you know in general if it is difficult for students to cross-register, ie, the students at the hosting college get first dibs and other schools only have chance if the class isn't already filled by students from the hosting institution?</p>
<p>(Thanks for the info Smithie -- I am a researching mother, hope you don't mind -- we have frequently visited Northampton and my daughter even took a sculling lesson on the Oxbow this summer while we were in town...)</p>
<p>cross-registering is easy, it's done online and with a fair amount of frequency but there is the chance that the class may fill up. Generally, students at the hosting college do have first choice and then five-college students can register, though I've never found this to be a problem when registering for classes I want. I don't know how popular film production is at Hampshire however, or what the limits are. </p>
<p>In Smith's intro to film production preference is given to majors in Film Studies (either five college or Smith majors) which may or may not hold true for other production courses at the other schools. </p>
<p>Speaking of which, have you checked UMASS? There courses are supposed to be extensive, and AMherst has good film studies as well, though again, that's studies and may or may not include a lot of production.</p>
<p>I did a rudimentary search of the 5 College catalog using the search terms Film and Production -- no one school seemed to especially offer more than any other.</p>
<p>Hampshire's web site plays up their production facilities, and the most recent Student Film Festival results seem to show a preponderance of Hampshire students, so I have the sense that student filmmaking is popular and well supported there.</p>
<p>My experience with wait-listed classes (though this is all at Smith) was that Five College students got preference from the wait list, and then it went to Smith students. I'd imagine the other colleges operate similarly, but I've never had a problem getting into a class I wanted to take, at Smith or the other two schools where I took classes (UMass and Mount Holyoke).</p>
<p>University of Central Florida always has the most entries at the major annual film festival I go to at Stony Brook. They screen all the short student films that are submitted and pair them with a professional film. The films the kids make are amazing.</p>
<p>In terms of LAC's Wesleyan is also known for film production, and I think Bard would be a good choice too, as would Emerson.</p>
<p>As was already pointed out, Film Studies is a lot more popular around here (the Five Colleges) than Film Production. Also, with Hampshire courses, just keep in mind that their catalogue changes every semester and you can't rely on always having the same courses available with any frequency. If you're expecting to take a certain set of courses, that might not work out.</p>